US sniper hunt police renew appeal

The arrests appeared to herald a breakthrough

Police searching for an elusive sniper in the Washington area of the United States have appealed to a mystery caller to contact them again.

The police chief co-ordinating the hunt issued the latest in a series of cryptic appeals through the media hours after two people were arrested in connection with the case.

Call us back so we can clearly understand

Charles Moose, Montgomery police chief

Investigators suspect that the sniper, who has shot 12 people in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC since 2 October, called them on Monday using a voice-disguising device, the US television network CNN reported, quoting a source close to the investigation.

It has emerged that the two men picked up in a dramatic police operation at a petrol station near the town of Richmond, Virginia, were not involved in the killings.

The arrests had appeared to be a significant breakthrough in the intensive search for the gunman.

	:	Trail of terror
Map showing location of recent attacks

Montgomery County police chief Charles Moose appealed directly to the unidentified caller at a news conference.

"The person you called did not hear everything you said. The audio was unclear and we want to get it right.

"Call us back so we can clearly understand,"

The police chief would not say anything more.

Communication

The message apparently related to communication between the police and an unidentified person who left a note and a telephone number near the scene of the latest sniper attack, at a restaurant in Ashland, Virginia, on Saturday night.

Police received a message near the scene of Saturday's shooting

A 37-year-old man was critically injured when he was shot in the car park of the Ponderosa restaurant.

Our correspondent says the huge excitement which followed the two arrests has now turned to disappointment.

The police later said they were undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala and were being turned over to the immigration service.

"They were in the wrong place at the wrong time", an unnamed police official was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.

American television networks said one of the men was arrested by heavily armed police while using a telephone box at an Exxon petrol station on Broad Street in Hanover County during the morning rush hour.

Security has been intensified in the wake of the attacks

Police also surrounded and seized a white van, which was taken away for examination.

Several of the shootings have taken place in petrol station forecourts.

Police have repeatedly appealed for information concerning a white van reported by witnesses near the scene of some of the shootings.

The apparently random attacks - which have left nine dead and another three wounded - have caused widespread fear in the region, with many people afraid to go outdoors.

Some drivers are now reportedly paying $25 a time to have their cars refuelled for them, while on Monday schools in the Richmond and Ashland areas of Virginia were closed under pressure from anxious parents.